It Hurts, Tori
by mooncheese1331
Summary: I pick up my scissors and climb, higher and higher and higher.This is where our first kiss was.Higher, higher.First make out.Higher, higher.Where she talked me out of killing myself once my dad abandoned me.Higher, higher.Where Cat told me she loves me and I told her I love her.Higher, higher.Where she told me her dad hits her. Cade. Jori Friendship. Rated for suicide and violence.


Cat always hated her father.

He never listens to her cries, her pleas for him to stop, and in the end he always gets his way.

Cat hates herself.

She's so despicable not even her father loves her.

Cat loves death.

She loved going to funerals, dreams of her own, waiting for the coroner to see past her stage makeup and look, really look at the bruises that dot her skin.

Perhaps tonight daddy would take it too far.

Maybe tonight she would finally get her wish, finally die.

It's better than the harsh reality she's living in right now.

Maybe she should just off herself.

Make it easier on everyone.

…./…\...

Cat screamed as her father threw her against the wall.

"Da-dad please…" she whispered.

He laughed and hit her jaw before leaving the room.

The redhead struggled to pull herself up and once again, wished for death.

After about an hour she found she was still unable to move.

Her father came back in and kicked her for good measure, his toes hooking under her ribcage and actually lifting her up.

She's positive her ribs are broken.

He lifts her up and throws her against the wall again, her neck making a sickening noise as she hits the pink drywall.

He leaves again. Somehow Cat finds the strength to text Jade.

_Help._

_xoxo, kitty_

The phone falls out of her hands onto her leg.

Cat doesn't feel it. She can't move her legs.

Her dad comes in a third time.

"He must be angry tonight." Cat murkily thinks.

He snarls, chucking her phone out of the window. He throws her against the wall again, and again, and again.

Cat feels hands around her neck and next think she knows she's on the bed, a pillow around her face.

She screams but no one hears.

He finally lets up, but he throws her against the wall again.

Cat can't feel anything.

Nothing at all.

She tries to move her fingers but they won't respond.

She is aware of hands around her face. They twist and twist her head and it hurts so badly and he won't stop until-

Pop.

Cat slides into oblivion.

…./…\...

Jade knocks on the window of one Cat Valentine.

"Cat." She whispers, afraid for the poor girl.

She had gotten a one-word text that said one of the most terrifying things she had ever read: Help.

All she saw was red in the well-lit room. Red on Cat's bed, Red on Cat's walls, even Red footprints around Cat's floor.

Finally she breaks the window and climbs inside.

What she sees shocks her.

Cat Valentine, sweet, innocent Cat Valentine, is lying on the floor, red pooling out from under her, her back twisted at funny angles, and her neck hanging limply to one side.

Jade screams.

She runs to her best friend and checks for breathing. She discovers that Cat is taking in short little gasps of air, but barely enough to keep her alive.

Jade holds back another scream as she takes a few pictures for evidence in court.

She's sobbing as she calls 911, then the only other person she could-Tori Vega.

"Jade its one am, please make it quick."

"Come over to Cat's house." Jade chokes out.

"Why?" Tori asked, her voice suddenly alert.

"I-her dad isn't home, I think he left. Tori please, I'm begging you I can't go through the interrogation alone." Jade whispers.

"Why would you be interrogated?"

"Cat texted me that she needed help. Her dad was abusive; she didn't go into detail but said he hits her a few times every night. I came over as fast as I could but her back's broken and her neck's snapped and there's so much blood and Tori she's barely breathing." The black-haired girl finishes, sobbing at the end.

Jade hears a clatter and the start of an engine.

Jade cradles the remains of Cat in her arms, kissing her, doing anything to wake her up, wake Jade up from this horrible nightmare.

Jade notices how pale she is. She notices how her breathing has slowed, and how her mouth hangs slightly open.

"Cat, come on, please baby please." Jade whispers into her hair. "I need you to wake up."

…./…\...

**Jade's POV**

I hear running up the stairs and Tori busts the door open. She stops cold at the sight of Cat.

I'm still trying to hold on to any sign of life she gives off, any sign whatsoever.

I kiss her a few more times, and then turn hopelessly to Tori.

I wordlessly point at a blood-spattered wall. It's dented.

I force Cat's face up to mine, peeling open her eyes, but nothing happens.

Cat stops breathing.

I try to perform CPR, wondering absently where the paramedics were, but it was to no avail.

Cat Valentine is dead.

I try to hug the lifeless body but it doesn't respond. I try to kiss her, breathe air into her but she won't kiss back, won't breathe again.

I stare at her, tears running fast and hot down my cheeks.

I see Tori's mouth open in a silent scream, tears running down her cheeks as well.

I gently put the redhead down and walk over to Tori.

Without hesitation, she clamps me in a bone-crushing hug.

I pulled her face up to mine and stare into her eyes.

"There's nothing we can do." I whisper, glancing at the tattered form of the girl I loved.

She glances at me before releasing. We can hear sirens getting closer and closer. I pick Cat up bridal-style and run downstairs, taking her to the ambulance. Tori's hot on my tail.

I put her on the stretcher and explain the situation to the EMTs. I hear the buzz of the paddles and then a guy telling someone to call it.

"Caterina Hannah Valentine, Time of death: 1:30 AM."

I shake my head as tears flow down my cheeks.

I wrap Tori in another hug and watch as my mangled best friend, my mangled girlfriend is loaded into a blue bag and zipped up.

I see her dad's truck pull into the driveway and police flock the area, arresting the disgusting man on sight.

I let out a shaky sob.

"I can't believe she's gone." I whisper. "No more Cat."

Tori nods, and then wraps me in a hug.

"We-we should call people." I whisper, and Tori nods again.

Instead, she just sends out a mass-text.

"_Meet us at the park. It's urgent._

_~Tori and Jade_"

I collapse into another fit of sobs, almost screaming into Tori.

"Why would this fucking happen to her? She told me it was mostly verbal!" I keep repeating, and I can't seem to stop.

She shushes me like a mother would shush their child, stroking my hair.

Eventually we get in Tori's car and drive to the park. I hop out and jump on the playground, sobbing into the night.

Tori sits next to me, still in shock, but I notice there are tears running down her face as well.

Eventually we hear a car engine shut off and four groggy teenagers shuffle towards us.

I can't stop sobbing and Tori puts her arm around my heaving shoulders.

The others move over to us, but shuffle uncertainly by the playground.

Eventually my body doesn't know what to do anymore and I can't get the image of Cat, broken, out of my head. I turn to the side that Tori's not on and vomit until my entire stomach is empty, and even then I dry heave a little.

Tori pats my back, wiping her eyes a little.

I glance up at her and just sob some more.

Tori is the first to speak.

"Cat…Cat…Cat's dad…" She can't finish beyond that.

I sniff and pull out my phone. I drag up a picture of Cat, back when she was all smiley and happy and not broken and bloody.

I stare at it for a while and hold the phone to my chest, because I will never be able to do that with Cat again.

Tori wraps me in another deep hug which I willingly melt into.

Andre clears his throat. "Why are you covered in blood?" he asks quietly.

I let out a tortured scream and Tori starts to sob quietly, the gravity of the situation hitting her.

I shakily go through my pictures, finding the ones I took for evidence.

I hold my phone out to the four.

"Oh. My. God. Is that stage makeup?" Beck whispers.

I shake my head. "She-she texted me she needed help and I found her in her room like that and she was still breathing but barely and then I called Tori and she stopped breathing and the paramedics…" I can't even finish.

I let my lips ghost over the words. "Caterina Hannah Valentine. Time of death: 1:30 AM."

Tori is sobbing now, and I get up quietly.

I head over to a tree, the tree that our first date took place in, and I climb it quietly.

I grab the scissors out of my boot and quickly cut into the bark the words, the horrible words that proclaim her death, right below the heart that contains our names.

I let the scissors fall to the ground and I climb down, making my way back over to the group.

I clear my hoarse throat.

"Caterina Hannah Valentine…" I stop myself, thinking of the promise we made two weeks ago. "No, Caterina Hannah Valentine-West, Time of death: 1:30 AM." I whisper.

They all turn to me, shocked.

I drop to my knees again, sobbing.

"This can't fucking happen." I whisper. "She told me it was all verbal and only a few slaps…the bastard fucking broke her back and…fuck." I whisper.

"So Cat's dead?" Trina asks slowly.

Instead of answering I just stared at the dimly lit tree. "My girlfriend just died." I'm stuck on repeat. That's all my brain thinks of, that's all I say.

Everyone looks at me. I'm rocking back and forth and muttering to myself.

I pull out my phone hesitantly and stare at the pictures of her, the ones where she's happy and silly and not fucking broken like a twig.

I feel hot tears running down my face as I get to the ones where she has a black eye, to the ones where she's still smiling even though her jaw is shadowed.

I want to stab myself when I reach the ones where she's on the floor, crumpled, snapped. I choke back a strangled sob before putting my phone away.

I notice everyone's staring at me again, so I take a deep breath.

"She-She told me it was only verbal, not-not this; not her being tossed at the wall…it was horrible." I whisper. "Seeing her like that. My girlfriend died in my arms." I start sobbing again.

Tori is staring ahead, not even blinking.

Once again, I turn to the side and vomit.

Huh, I guess there were fluids in there.

I notice the other four are crying also and I put down my bag before going back to the giant oak tree.

I pick up my scissors and climb, higher and higher and higher.

This is where our first kiss was.

Higher, higher.

First make out.

Higher, higher.

Where she talked me out of killing myself once my dad abandoned me.

Higher, higher.

Where Cat told me she loves me and I told her I love her.

Higher, higher.

Where she told me her dad hits her.

Higher, higher.

Where we promised we'd marry someday.

I'm out of tree.

I scream and grab the scissors, stabbing my arm.

"It's not good Jadey. It's not healthy." Cat's voice rings in my ears.

I drop the scissors and sob. There's nothing else to do anymore. Just sob.

I remember the feeling of her lips on mine, the feeling of her pressed against me, the yelp she would make whenever I ghosted my hand over a bruise.

"I bruise easily." She would say. "He doesn't hit me that hard, I swear."

I'm shaking as the memories wash over me. I can't stop them, can't stop the flow of reminders she's gone.

I remember the day we finally went all the way, how amazing it was, how she whispered that she was ready and there were bruises all over her body.

I remember how I walked in one night, and her dad was there, and Cat had screamed at me.

"GET OUT!" she had almost sobbed. "GET OUT PLEASE JADE I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE THIS!"

I had run away, the only thought in my mind being that that looked like a lot more than a few hits.

I remember the next day she had that giant purple bruise under her eye and a matching one on her stomach.

I remember the day I found her razors.

I remember how she was always there for me, even when I was a bitch to her.

All these memories, reminders that I should have seen the signs, flood past me. It makes me sick.

I notice all the others are below me, looking up worriedly.

One last memory flickers into my consciousness.

"Jade?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

…./…\...

Her funeral is short and to the point. The court appointment wasn't very long; it took the jury three of my pictures and thirty minutes of testimony to determine her father guilty.

It's been exactly two weeks since I lost my girlfriend. I haven't attended school since then and mostly just come out to the park to sit in the tree.

I swear I can hear her sometimes, hear her melodic voice singing.

I dream of her, too. I dream a variety of things, mainly memories.

I puke almost every day involuntarily, and sob almost every hour.

Right now, I'm in the tree.

Thinking of memories.

Thinking of her flush against me, me chuckling down at her, her hugging me before I kissed her.

Thinking of that time I had to drive her to the dentist to get her tooth pulled.

I shake my head.

No more memories.

It hurts too much.

I want to join her so badly. I want to just stab my gut and be done with it, or take too much codeine or Advil or make a death cocktail or something. Maybe even jump out of this tree onto the concrete.

But I know it's not what Cat would've wanted.

I hear a branch creak and I notice a certain brunette joining me on the branch.

I trace my hand over the carving. She notices and reads it before giving me a hug.

"Whatcha thinking about?" she asks in a hollow voice.

"Suicide."

She gasps slightly.

"I'm serious, Tori. I won't because I know it's not what she would've wanted but god it hurts so much." I whisper.

She nods in understanding and I sigh.

"I remember things." I start.

"I remember happy things, like the first time we had sex or the first time we kissed or the first time we said I love you. Then I remember how she would flinch sometimes and the time I walked into her bedroom one night and she screamed at me to get out and her dad was hitting her and all I could think was how it looked like more than a few hits and I'll remember how I didn't do anything about it. And I'll remember how caring she was and how once, when my dad told me to go kill myself, I came up to this very tree and climbed higher than I did the night she died and almost jumped, but Cat told me not to and that she liked me as more than a friend." I say in one breath before glancing at Tori.

She nods, patting my shoulder.

I shake my head.

"You can tell me." She says in answer to my unspoken question. "I don't mind."

"She always had a bruise. Always." I take a shuddering breath.

"The worst memory is the memory of us kissing because it was so damn perfect that I know I'll never get close to it again." I wipe away a few stray tears, still not looking at her.

Tori speaks quietly. "I can't get the image of her out of my head, the image of her on the night she died."

I shake my head. "I have pictures." I trail off and she nods absently.

I pull out my phone and start at the beginning of our relationship, where she's blowing me kisses and pretending to hug the camera.

There's one of her with a black eye and there are tears in her eyes.

There's one of her with a shadow around her jaw.

I smile, the first smile I've smiled since she died, when I get to the next one. We got a very nice old woman and her husband to take a picture of us actually kissing. I linger on that one and I glance at Tori to see her reaction.

"Who took that?"

"A very nice couple." I say softly.

"You guys look amazing together. I see what you meant about the perfection part." She says softly.

I flip forward and there's the pictures I probably should delete, the ones where she's broken in so many ways and bloody and bruised.

Tori sighs.

I shake my head before putting my phone back in my bag.

"I love that picture." I say, and she looks at me with alarm. "No, the one where we're kissing." I explain.

She nods, her brow furrowed.

"It reminds me of the feeling, the Cat-pressed-up-against-me feeling that felt so amazingly right it was scary."

She nods slightly.

"Hollywood Arts misses you." She whispers.

I nod. "I'm gonna post those pictures to The Slap. It's demented but I'm posting all of them and I'm listing us as in a relationship."

She nods in understanding and I hop down from the tree.

Great, now I can't get the bad images out of my head. I vomit into the duck pond.

Tori glances at me with big eyes. "How often does that happen, Jade?"

"At least once a day." I say, wiping my mouth. "My body doesn't know how to react."

She nods again.

…./…\...

99/100 pictures uploaded.

100/100 pictures uploaded.

Post a status?

I shakily type. "Caterina Hannah Valentine, Time of death: 1:30 AM. Jadelyn Autumn West, Time of death: 4:30 PM. Goodbye."

I grab the pills and the cyanide. I swallow it quickly, and feel my body start to lose feeling.

"I'm sorry Cat." I mouth. "It hurt too much."

The last thing I know is Tori, screaming at me to wake up.

Then, I see Cat.

She's yelling at me, but there's a smile on her face. I smile and follow her wherever she came from.

I hear a buzz, and a faint voice. "Jadelyn Autumn West, Time of death: 4:35 PM. I'm so sorry."

I smile.

**THE END! Depressing, I know, but I had to talk my friend out of doing the unspeakable last night so I'm in a bad place. Let me know your thoughts though!**


End file.
